Y2k worry causes satellite test delay

JAPAN SUCCESSFULLY
linked a pair of satellites twice last
summer, the first ever such outer
space maneuver conducted via
remote control from Earth.
Though the satellites will have
enough power to conduct further
testing, additional experiments will
be temporarily halted from around
December.
Yoichi Fujita, spokesman of the
National Space Development
Agency, said the agency has yet to
address the Y2K problem as it relates
to control computers on the ground,
although the two orbiting satellites
are free from the so-called
millennium bug.
Fujita said testing of robot arms
mounted on the satellites and a third
rendezvous will be among other
experiments to be carried out by late
November.
On Nov. 28, 1997, Japan
successfully launched the two
satellites, nicknamed Orihime
(Vega) and Hikoboshi (Altair).
A series of experiments under
zero gravity were conducted in
anticipation of the need for
remote-controlled docking of supply
shipments ferried by unmanned
spacecraft to the space stations of the
future.
The Y2K problem is an
outgrowth of an old computer
programming technique in which
years were labeled for
record-keeping purposes only by
their final two digits, such as 99 for
1999. An unknown number of
computers are expected to
malfunction when the date changes
to 2000, which some computers
might interpret as 1900, instead of
the start of the new millennium.
http://www.msnbc.com/news/247882.asp